Tales That Witness Madness

A Brief Talk With Jamie Delano

by Helen Braithwaite

Jamie Delano, along with Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison, shaped the DC mature comics of the 1980s and 1990s. His writing evokes an incredible sense of dread and terror in a reader, as witnessed by his time writing Hellblazer in the 1980s. His take on the character of John Constantine has never been equalled. Delano's Original Sins graphic novel (DC/Vertigo) should be in every comic book fan's collection. His more recent work includes 20/20 Visions (DC/Vertigo) and The Territory (Dark Horse). The latter was one of the most thrilling and bizarre comics of recent years. Fans of The Matrix owe it to themselves to check out this comic.

Contributing Tart Helen Braithwaite had the privilege of speaking with this talented and idiosyncratic gentleman. We thank Mr. Delano for taking time away from writing The Great Satan for Vertigo in order to do this interview.

Sequential Tart: You've called your website Hack. Is that playful or does it represent how you view your status within the comics industry?

Jamie Delano: Ironic self-deprecation, I guess; or inverted snobbery. Plus, I thought it was a neat title for something and the website needed one. As to my status in the comics industry, if a "hack" is someone who works too hard for not enough money, up to his elbows in metaphorical blood and guts month after goddamn month, but still kind of enjoys it in a grouchy, Blitz-spirit kind of way, I'm happy to have it on my name-tag.

ST: It's rare that you write a story that doesn't touch on some aspect of human sexuality. It's obviously a subject that fascinates you...

JD: A subject that appals, baffles and terrifies me, more like. I'll never get to grips with it. I hope I can stop doing it soon. But it's people that fascinate me, I think; and they run on a weird fuel blended from fear, sex and love.

ST: Is there anyone (writer, artist or both) that you feel has been unfairly overlooked in terms of commercial success or critical acclaim?

JD: I think David Lloyd is a quiet hero of graphic storytelling who never fails to make his writer look good.

ST: You recently collaborated with Tom Peyer on Cruel and Unusual. Co-writing is a fairly rare phenomenon. If you could choose another writer to work with who would you pick? Why?

JD: Co-writing with Tom was an almost accidental experiment which resulted from e-mail correspondence and a shared revulsion for the morality of privatised prison corporations in the US. I think we probably both learned a lot from the experience, and I'd do it again like a shot if the right project occurred. It kind of doubled the work but halved the burden - if that makes any kind of sense. But generally writing is a solitary sport, I think. I've been trying for a few minutes, but I can't think of anyone else who I would want to work with.

Collaborations must be like romances, I guess; they either happen or they don't; you can't plan for them.

Sorry to be dull.

ST: What was the last comic you read that made you sit up and take note?

JD: Damn, I hate this question. It's a personal failing, I'm sure, but I am incredibly difficult to move. I rarely sit up, but I did manage to flicker an eyelid recently over Book One of Happydale (Vertigo), and Jonny Double (Vertigo) by Azzarello and Risso got my attention. I even thought Book One of Moore's Tom Strong (ABC) had a long-missed charm, and Transmetropolitan (Vertigo) is consistently innovative and entertaining. Then there is Breccia's Che, the art of which I admire slowly while practising my Spanish deciphering the text.....

ST: Please use the space provided below to publicise forthcoming projects...

JD: New monthly series for Vertigo. Formerly advertised as The Great Satan but to be renamed before release "sometime in the year 2000", should we all survive that far. Great art from Goran Suduka, resident of Zagreb.

Future John Constantine miniseries. Currently titled The Bastard, but guaranteed to be called something different on publication. Art by Phillip Bond. This was written two years ago when the death of Di seemed like something with which to have a little sport. I forget why it hasn't appeared so far; something to do with lawyers, perhaps...

I wrote a Darkseid two-parter for Legends Of Apokalips (or something similar). Steve Pugh finished drawing it earlier this year, but I don't know when that will be out either.

Currently I'm working on a screenplay adaptation of Hell Eternal, which at present seems to have a better than average chance of making it to production (strictly low-budget, of course).

ST: The British comics industry has always been a sickly brat. How do you rate it's current health? Any suggested remedies?

JD: Let's skip this one. I'm too ignorant of the subject and if I try to pontificate I'll only look like an arsehole. (I really don't get out that much, you know).

ST: Is there any area of the future you are prepared to express optimism over?

JD: Well now... I'm quite looking forward to imbibing the coffee and smoking the joint that I've just prepared. Maybe the short-term benefits of global warming - exotic plant and venomous insect immigration until the gulf-stream switches off... The continuing self-evisceration of the Tory party, hopefully emulated by the execrable Church of New Labour in due course. Millennium 'excitement' will be over soon, that's good. I might benefit from cloned organ transplant when my lungs eventually dissolve...

ST: What is your favourite conspiracy theory?

JD: Stumped me there... Favourite = most cruel and amusing..? Would Christianity fit the bill?

ST: And because I can't pass up the chance for a psychological litmus test - Please finish: Love is...

JD: ...a bloody nuisance that makes us too vulnerable and human.

Hack: Home of the Official Jamie Delano webpage

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